| Independently, corporate culture and corporate strategy have been extensively researched with respect to firm performance, but little is known about how the relationship between culture and strategy affects firm performance. This dissertation will examine the relationship between corporate culture and corporate strategy and its effect on firm performance in the context of the trucking industry. The trucking industry is an ideal setting in which to study these relationships since it represents a significant impact on our economy in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment, safety, taxes, government expenditures, and the ability of firms to competitively move goods from points of import or manufacture through supply chains to points of end use. Furthermore, the trucking industry is extremely competitive, being composed of approximately 500,000 firms, and currently it is facing numerous sources of rising costs making financial performance a critical concern. The literature on corporate culture, corporate strategy and firm performance is reviewed at length resulting in the conceptualization of a model and relevant constructs. It is hypothesized that performance is enhanced when specific culture types are matched with certain strategies. The results of this study confirm that firm performance is greater depending on the fit between certain cultures and certain strategies. |
